Was concidering upgrading sound in e46

[Steven Peplar]

Greeting people,

Hope all is well, Still love my BMW best car one can have. Aiming for new F30 next year.

I was wondering what your thoughts are on upgrading sound in the car, I have the normal business system in with rears, fronts and tweets.

I was concidering buying some from BSW, replacing those and maybe adding a sub-woofer.

Thanks

 

[moranor@axis]

the e46 sound is kak but if you only planning to keep it for another year i would not fit sound

 

[XMAX]

I agree with Moranor, but if you do plan on hanging onto the car I definitely recommend upgrading the sound.

if you are doing it, do an install with good equipment, i.e. DLS, MB Quartz, Rockford Fosgate, JL Audio.... or others in that quality bracket. if its a lil expensive, then save until you can afford it. Believe me, its not gonna be fun installing a system that youre not entirely happy with and later on have to change out again...

 

[Steven Peplar]

Yes I do understand if it comes down to the fact of working for a new BMW its not worth it, thats only a maybe, all depends on what happens when I get there and how my wheel are still running.

All I know is that I love music and the better the quality of the sound the more fun it is to listen to. So can I keep the head unit as is and all and just add some speakers, then add the aditional amp + sub for the woofer.

So the question then will be, what size speakers do I look for, size, watts and ohms?

 

[XMAX]

you should put in an amplifier for the mids and tweeters as well. will definitely help boost the sound. An amplifier will definitely help smoothen out the sound. If you wanted to go all out, you could install a crossover which will improve the sound quality alot.

The above coupled with the subwoofer + Sub amp will make for a awesome system.


I dont remember what the standard sizes of the e46 speakers are, but I would advise you to fit the same sizes back in. that way no additional cutting need be done.

If you do ahead, keep the original system components. You could then pull all the upgrades out and reinstall the original stuff. add upgrades to new car.

E90 sound is good, even the HiFi system, but the upgrade stuff will still sound better than even the HiFi system in the E90's. It will most likely sound even better than the Harmon Kardon system also.

 

[Steven Peplar]

No thank you, I will look into it and do a little more research on it to see what I can and/or will do.

But how would you rate the BSW speaker packages? From BSW in USA
www.bavariansoundwerks.com

 

[XMAX]

No thank you, I will look into it and do a little more research on it to see what I can and/or will do.

But how would you rate the BSW speaker packages? From BSW in USA
www.bavariansoundwerks.com

Did I post something wrong...


I dunno BSW... Why not use the good quality brands that are available locally and have a proven track record. DLS for example has won many awards as the best speaker brand in the world...

 

[Steven Peplar]

Hi, ni sorry, no wrong posts. Just have this thing of saying, No thank you, will look into it. Meaning yes.

Appologies for the confusion.

 

[KSINGH]

i are confused now :=):

6.5" should fit. cut the skipass or remove rear speakers for bass to get in from boot.

 

[moranor@axis]

from what i read you cannot just change out the speakers because the oem head unit is not a very clean source... i gave up on mine and fitted a free flow... will take the whole system out one day because i dont use it...

 

[KSINGH]

from what i read you cannot just change out the speakers because the oem head unit is not a very clean source... i gave up on mine and fitted a free flow... will take the whole system out one day because i dont use it...

:biglol:

the headunits can be a problem especially the clipping point and distortion. but maybe do it in stages. speakers first, then amp, then sub and subamp. then cables. and source unit.

 

[XMAX]

if you like the OEM look, you could look at getting the Professional Unit that came in some 2005 model e46's. Those were MP3 compatible and provided much better sound quality than the non MP3 version.

I had both, therefore I can compare. The Mp3 version definitely sounded better, even when using the same CD's I had in the non MP3 version.

 

[abmi0000]

I have a trim plate for sale if you interested :rollsmile:

 

[Budleigh]

No thank you, I will look into it and do a little more research on it to see what I can and/or will do.

But how would you rate the BSW speaker packages? From BSW in USA
www.bavariansoundwerks.com

BSW are very highly rated on Bimmerforums, and they develop their sound packages with the models in mind, IIRC. I'd go for it.

 

[Rambam]

A friend of mine took his E46 to BMW and they upgraded his sound for R4500. Sounds great now, not sure what all they did but its a major improvement. Might be worth checking. I have been looking at options cause I am not happy with the stock sound, its the only gripe I have with my car in fact. At least I have the factory fitted shuttle, but a audio jack or USB input would be wonderful! I am currently using one of those MP3 tape courier things in my head unit so that I can at least play MP3's from my phone and MP3 player

Good luck, let us know what you end up doing and how much it cost pls.

 

[Couper76]

You can still run the standard head unit...all you will need is a converter to ensure you run your amps to drive the 5' splits and sub.

 

[Raybimmer]

Go to a few installers and get ideas , they may have done a similar install and you could maybe listen to it .
Good luck .

 

[Baron]

Yeah the head unit was always my problem.. I dont think you get an unamplified output from them, to route directly into an amp - you have to use those crappy cables which attaches to the rear speaker line and doesnt really have good sound quality.


Also, you may want to have a look at this:

KMoys DIY E46 Aux Cable

 

[Couper76]

I got pretty decent sound with my OEM head unit using a converter and there were no cutting into the wires at all.

 

[Budleigh]

A friend of mine took his E46 to BMW and they upgraded his sound for R4500. Sounds great now, not sure what all they did but its a major improvement. Might be worth checking. I have been looking at options cause I am not happy with the stock sound, its the only gripe I have with my car in fact. At least I have the factory fitted shuttle, but a audio jack or USB input would be wonderful! I am currently using one of those MP3 tape courier things in my head unit so that I can at least play MP3's from my phone and MP3 player

Good luck, let us know what you end up doing and how much it cost pls.

Where'd you get the tape courier from? Can't find the blasted things anywhere.